Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Tanko Muhammad to resign forthwith
following a strong allegation of age falsification instituted in court
of competent jurisdiction by a concerned stakeholder against him.
HURIWA said the National Judicial Council has already established a
precedence that if the head of the judicial arm is facing strong legal
challenge strong enough to constitute a cog in the wheel of progress in
the administration of the judiciary, then he has to quit or be suspended
pending the determination of the matter. HURIWA said it would amount to
double standard should Justice Tanko Muhammad not be suspended whilst he
faces the legal challenge that touches on his legitimacy as a jurist of
highest standing in Nigeria. “He who goes to equity must do so with
clean hands and what is good for the goose is good for the gander”.
HURIWA recalled that a 46-year-old businessman, Tochi Michael, has
dragged the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad,
before an FCT High Court over alleged age falsification.
HURIWA recalled that in the originating summon with suit No.
FCT/HC/BW/CV/79/2019, filed before the court in April, the petitioner
alleged that the CJN deliberately falsified his date of birth.
HURIWA stated that Mr Michael alleged that the CJN falsified his date of
birth from December 31, 1950 as contained in all his official records
including that of WAEC to December 31, 1953 upon his appointment as a
judicial officer.
HURIWA recalled that the petitioner in the originating summon is praying
the court to determine whether such act of the CJN does not constitute a
criminal act of perjury, falsification and forgery.
HURIWA quoted Mr Michael as affirming in the originating summon also
that he is praying the court to determine whether by falsifying his date
of birth from December 31, 1950 to December 31, 1953 upon being
appointed to Nigeria Bench as a judicial officer he has not breach the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
HURIWA recalled too that the petitioner is also praying the court to
determine whether Mr Muhammad has not breached the Code of Conduct for
judicial officers and consequently brought the image of Nigeria
Judiciary to a state of disrepute and odium.
HURIWA recalled that the petitioner in his reliefs is praying the court
for a declaration that the defendant falsified his date of birth and
that the defendant has desecrated the breach of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN).
He is also praying for an order directing the Inspector General of
Police (IGP) to prosecute the defendant for the offence of perjury and
an order which the court may deem it fit.
Counsel to the CJN, Sam Ologunorisa, SAN, informed the court that the
plaintiff and his counsel were not in the court.
HURIWA recalled that Ologunorisa told the court that it seems the
plaintiff and his counsel were “running away” from the suit they filed,
stressing that the court should do the needful in the interest of
justice.
HURIWA in a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel
Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf
demanded that the acting CJN excused himself of the duties of the CJN
and clear his name or be fired by the National Judicial Council since
the case of forgery touches on the integrity of the Judicial system of
Nigeria just as the continuous stay of Justice Tanko Muhammad as head of
the judiciary whilst such a weighty matter is decided will harm the
image and credibility of the judicial arm of government. “Justice
Onnoghen was forced out of office even before an allegation of failure
to declare assets correctly was determined by a highly compromised Code
of conduct Tribunal. Tanko Muhammad must be suspended until such a time
that he is either cleared or the matter determined one way or the other.
If he is convicted then he should be fired”.
HURIWA affirmed thus:
“Age falsification is a disease that has eaten deep into Nigerian civil
service and labour market. The Nigerian labour force is filled with
senile and over aged employees. This continues to affect production
adversely in our institutions, establishments and businesses.
Even though, there is no clear cut definition of age falsification as a
crime in the Nigeria constitution, a person can still be sent to jail
for it because it is an offence to falsify any document. A Court can ask
a person found guilty of falsifying such documents to either forfeit
something or even go to jail (Aduba 2014).
Similarly, According to Legalmatch, an online legal document stated that
such offences are taken very serious in developed countries like united
states of America and is generally classified as felony, thus the person
if found guilty may have to pay monetary fine or incarceration in prison
facility between five to ten years.
WHAT THEN IS FALSIFICATION OF AGE? It is an act of either subtracting
time from one’s age or adding time to one’s age which is called forgery
because it is false. Again, forgery has been defined to mean the act of
making a false document or altering a genuine one for same to be used.
(Blacks Law Dictionary, 8th Edition) HOW CAN IT BE ESTABLISHED? For
forgery or falsification of age to be established or sustained, the
document purportedly forged must be a false representation of the
genuine document. Under our law, forgery CANNOT be grounded in respect
of a document in absence of its original. Mere presentation of series of
documents without pinpointing the original one from the counterfeit,
cannot establish a case of forgery or falsification of age. A party
alleging falsification of age, must show that; there is a document in
writing; that the accused knew the document to be false and the accused
presented the said document to the other party with the intention that
it would be acted upon to the detriment of the victim in the belief that
is genuine. (See SMART vs STATE (1974) 11 SC. 173). The law is well
settled in the case of Daggash v. Bulama (2004)14 NWLR (Pt. 892) 144;
that where allegation of crime (as in this case) is directly in issue in
a civil or criminal proceedings, it must be PROVED BEYOND REASONABLE
DOUBT and the onus of proof is on the person who asserts.
See Section 465 of the Criminal Code Act provides the definition of
forgery as thus: “A person who makes a false document or writing knowing
it to be false and with intent that it may in any way be used or acted
upon as genuine, whether in the state or elsewhere, to the prejudice of
any person or with intent that any person in the belief that it is
genuine be induced to do or refrain from doing any act, whether in the
state or elsewhere is said to forge the document or writing”.
In conclusion, our Ministries, Agencies, parastatals and even the
political class, individuals with fake certificates, age declarations,
false asset declarations are holding sway and desecrating institutions
that should be sacrosanct, not even the continuous biometrics of
government have deterred them from these actions.
We are bound to continue to fail as a nation if we do not sanitise the
system and make the offenders of the offence of forgery pay for their
crime.”